


Mila

by Its_Raineing_Words



Series: Hermione Granger and the Bulgarian Seeker [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adult Hermione Granger, Annoyed Hermione, Cute, Dialogue Heavy, F/M, Foreign Language, Frustration, Languages and Linguistics, Long-Term Relationship(s), Older Characters, One Shot, One Shot Collection, POV Third Person, Short One Shot, Talking, Teasing, learning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 10:39:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17486603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Its_Raineing_Words/pseuds/Its_Raineing_Words
Summary: Hermione is trying to learn Bulgarian but is finding that even the Brightest Witch of her age cannot learn a foreign language so easily. Has she met her match?Hermione snorted, “I agree but magic only goes so far and then you have to read books.”





	Mila

“Oh to hell with it! I just simply can’t do it!” Hermione yelled, slamming the book shut with a resounding thwack.  
Viktor looked up from his own book, the autobiography of the Wizard that created Quidditch, and cocked his head to the side, “Can’t do what?”  
“This!” She gestured to the muggle book called ‘How To Learn Bulgarian in Six Months’, “Bulgarian. It’s too difficult.”  
Viktor smirked, “Has the great Hermy-own Granger met her match?”  
She sighed, even after all these years his cute mispronunciation of her name cheered her up, or in this case, calmed her down. She cast a glance to the abandoned book and sent her eyes skyward, unable to look at it any longer.   
“She very well might have...I just don’t think I can do this, I want to but...it’s all too much.”  
“I was the same when learning English, there should be a spell for it,” he replied good-naturedly.  
Hermione snorted, “I agree but magic only goes so far and then you have to read books.”  
“There we are!” Viktor laughed, “My studious Mila is back.”  
“This just isn’t making any sense to me and languages have never been my strong suit. I want to learn Bulgarian, not just for you and your family but for myself too. I don’t want you to have to translate for me all the time but even so, I just want to learn for myself, to prove that I can do it. It’s become my next big challenge but at this point, I don’t think I can do it.”  
Viktor hummed, “Positivity is key, Mila. You can do this, I know you can and I’ll help you as much as I can.”   
“I know you’ll do everything that you can but what if I can’t do it? How will I ever fit in with your family?”  
“My family love you, you know that,” he comforted.  
“But how could they possibly?” She asked frustratedly, “They don’t know me, not really. They’ve never really spoken to me. Surely they expect you to end up with someone who they can talk to and approve of?”   
He frowned and stood up and moved to her and pulled her to him, “Is that what you really think? That they have expectations for me? They don’t. And even if they did that wouldn’t matter to me. It’s you I love and you who I want to marry one day, don’t ever forget that.”   
Hermione leaned into him and let out a breath and with it the tension she was holding onto, “I’m overreacting, aren’t I?”  
“I’m afraid so, Mila,” he replied, nodding faux-gravely, “But that can be easily fixed with some smiles.”   
“It’s just...this sounds stupid, I know, but I’m so used to everything coming fairly easily to me. Yes, I studied hard in school, but I was the best in my class. I never had any trouble with that. Bulgarian is nothing like that, my accent is terrible, I can’t remember any of the vocabulary and the grammar is horrific! I’m terrible at Bulgarian and I’ve never been terrible at anything, even the things I didn’t like and I really want to be good at Bulgarian.”  
“It comes with time,” Viktor said comfortingly.  
“I know but what if it doesn’t for me? It would hurt me so much to be so left out. You made the effort to learn English, not for me I know, but still. Why is it so difficult for me to return the favour?”  
“Don’t think of it as returning favours, just...you want to do this, yes? If you pressure yourself it won’t work. Just take things in small bits,” he said comfortingly.   
Hermione moved away from Viktor slightly so as to look into his eyes, “Thank you, love. I will make some progress eventually, it just seems like a very far off goal at the moment.”   
“You’re thinking of it wrong,” she bristled at his words but he smoothed out the wrinkles in her forehead with his lips and continued, “It’s not like a spell where you just learn a few small things. This an entire language and Bulgarian isn’t like French, there aren’t similarities. I wish there were more similarities between English and Bulgarian myself,” he laughed and Hermione joined in, feeling a lot better.   
“You’re right, of course, you’re right. It just all became a bit too much for me for a moment there,” she giggled sheepishly, not meeting his eyes for a moment.   
“Do not worry, Mila. You will learn Bulgarian, in fact, you’ve learnt so much already! You managed to talk a little to my mum, didn’t you?” He asked and she nodded, snorting derisively at the memory of the last time Viktor’s mother had come over for tea. She had greeted her and asked how she was, though Hermione didn’t understand the answer.   
“The key phrase there is ‘a little’,” she sniggered, “But yes, I did manage a little.”  
“Exactly, you learn and little bit and then a bit more and soon enough...you will be able to talk.”  
Hermione looked at him fondly, “Has anyone ever told you that you’re very smart?”  
“Only you and my mother, Mila. My two favourite women in the world,” he replied.   
“You’re getting all soppy and romantic again,” she teased.   
“But you’ve cheered up, haven’t you? So my plan worked,” he leaned back against the sofa, taking her with him as he didn’t let her go from his arms, “I think you should forget Bulgarian for today, have a break and do it tomorrow.”  
She sighed in relief, “I think you’re right, I won’t learn anything today. Let’s watch a movie instead, I still can’t believe that you haven’t seen Hocus Pocus!”   
Viktor laughed, “Whatever you want, Mila. But I’ll be quizzing you tomorrow so you’d better study hard once your break is over.”  
“Oh hush!” She giggled, “Let’s just watch the film first before you fill my head with what’s going to happen tomorrow. Besides, you know I’m meeting Harry and Ron in the afternoon-it’s been far too long since I’ve seen my boys.”  
“Oh yes,” he laughed, “Those two. I’m glad that Ron finally settled down with Lavender, his glares were really starting to annoy me. We’ve been together ten years so I don’t understand why he hadn’t gotten over it.”  
Hermione grimaced at the memories, “You know how Ron is, stubborn to the core. He didn’t really love me, he just wanted to follow the story of ‘childhood sweethearts live happily ever after’.”  
“I wouldn’t have let you go so easily either but still, I’m glad that he has let the past go.”  
She laughed as she summoned the DVD for Pocus Hocus and put it into the TV, “Well I’m sure Lavender would kill him if he was still obsessing over me whilst dating her, she’s very possessive.”

They settled in to watch the movie, Hermione lying down across the sofa with her legs in Viktor’s lap as the movie began. She’s seen the movie plenty of times before so she didn’t bother paying much attention to it, instead, she focused on her boyfriend’s face, watching for any reaction. Hermione always found his expressions fascinating; people tended to think that he was Poe-faced at all times but that was far from the truth, his expressions were merely smaller and better hidden that most other people’s. It had taken her years to suss them all out fully but not that she had she found that she could easily deduce what he was thinking at any time which she often used to her advantage. At this very moment, his brow was furrowed ever so slightly and yet his lips were turned up minutely at the corners which told her that he thought that the movie was amusing but odd, a theory which was soon confirmed.  
“How can Muggles get magic so wrong?”  
She laughed heartily, “Well, they don’t have anything to go on.”  
“But still, some things are just common sense,” he grumbled, pouting slightly at he easy rebuttal.   
“I’ll tell you right now, Viktor,” she said between gasps, “As someone who was raised in a Muggle household, nothing about magic makes any sense at all.”  
”Well, we’ll just have to...what’s the phrase?”  
“Agree to disagree?” She offered, knowing what he meant after so much time spent together.  
“Exactly, we’ll just have to agree to disagree.”   
“How very diplomatic of you, love,” she said fondly.  
“Anything for you, Mila.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've had a very productive day today! Two Viktor/Hermione fics in a day, crazy! Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Kudos, comment-all that stuff and do let me know what you thought of it. Any ideas for what you want to see from me next would be wonderful as well :)


End file.
